Labor Relations
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Court Reverses Ruling, Says UPS Worker Entitled to Trial on ADA Claim
The complex case of Teresa Watts v. United Parcel Service Inc. has gone to trial three times and been appealed to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati once before, according to the 6th Circuit's latest ruling.
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Michigan Governor Signs Right-to-Work Bills Into Law
Once they take affect early next year, Michigan will become the 24th right-to-work state in the United States.
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Michigan Lawmakers Pass Controversial Right-to-Work Legislation; Gov. Snyder Expected to Sign
The Michigan House approved House Bill 4003 and Senate Bill 116, which will ban the practice of workers being forced to pay any money to a union as a condition of employment.
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Disaffected Workers Want Out of Unions
As organized labor loses leverage in a race-to-the-bottom global market, some workers are becoming so disillusioned by what their unions can, or rather can't, do for them that they want out.
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NFL to Freeze Referees' Pension Plan Under Labor Agreement
Retirement benefits will be provided through a defined contribution plan to new referees immediately and for all officials beginning in 2017.
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Looming Strike in India a Threat to U.S. Companies?
Trade unions there called for a nationwide strike to protest India's opening of its retail sector to international retailers Walmart and Tesco.
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Chicago School Strike Lifts One Local Firm
In the wake of the Chicago Teachers Union strike, Sittercity, a website that helps parents find babysitters and nannies, has seen membership jump 35 percent in the past 24 hours in the Chicago market.
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Penalty for Not Completing Health Risk Assessment Does Not Violate ADA: Court
Broward County began offering an employee wellness program in 2009 through its group health insurer. The county required all employees to take a health risk assessment and provide a blood sample to determine glucose and cholesterol levels.
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Massive Master Complaint Filed Against NFL Over Concussion-Related Injuries
The 86-page document, filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, seeks financial compensation, injunctive relief and medical monitoring for former NFL players who claim the league misled them about the dangers of concussions.
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Wisconsin Law Repeals Punitive, Compensatory Damages in Bias Cases
The bill, which was supported by numerous business groups, was signed into law by the governor April 5, but not announced until April 6.
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Official Sentenced for Staffing Firm Bribes
Bribe payments were calculated by multiplying the total number of hours worked by temporary employees at a firm by 25 cents.
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NLRB Hones Workplace Social Media Policies
The case of a worker at a popcorn packaging facility who was fired for criticizing a supervisor in a Facebook posting has attracted the most interest, as it ‘highlight[s] what is likely to become the NLRB's new test for deciding whether the action for which an employee was disciplined was so...
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Study: Wage Bill Would Benefit 1M New Yorkers
The study found that 880,100 New York employees earn less than $8.50 an hour. About 352,000 of those are in New York City, about 40 percent of the state total. In the city, 92 percent of those workers are at least 20 years of age.
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Arbitration Pact Barring Class Lawsuits Violates NLRA
In a Jan. 3 decision, the NLRB ruled that "employers may not compel employees to waive their National Labor Relations Act right to collectively pursue litigation of employment claims in all forums, arbitral and judicial."
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Lactation Discrimination Is not Sex Discrimination: Judge
The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to say discrimination on the basis of pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII, according to the EEOC.
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EEOC Issues Final Rule on Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act Records
GINA, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in May 2008, protects job applicants, current and former employees, labor union members and apprentices and trainees from discrimination based on their genetic information.
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Lockout of Union Workers in New York Shines Light on NLRB Appointees
In a memo released last month, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel wrote that President Obama was justified in making the appointments.
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NLRB: Employer Social Media Policies Should not Bar Protected Worker Activity
An analysis of the NLRB's rulings also indicates that if an employee makes a comment on Facebook and fellow employees respond, it is considered protected activity. It is not protected, however, if only friends respond to the posting.
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Bloomberg Outlines Ambitious 2012 Agenda
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will push for a minimum-wage increase, a $20,000 salary hike for top teachers and the firing of lousy educators from failing schools.
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Union Says Staffing Suit Could Cost $10 Million
The lawsuit claims workers were regularly not paid for all hours worked and were not paid required overtime.
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Analysis: Employment Class Actions Continue to Raise Firms' Financial Exposures
As a result of two key rulings, class actions are 'not dead or blocked, rather they're reforming and morphing into different iterations,' says one expert.
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UPS Pilots' Union Says FAA Fatigue Rule Threatens Public Safety
Under the new rule finalized Dec. 21, cargo pilots are exempt from a sweeping overhaul of commercial airline pilot scheduling, where pilots would fly shorter shifts and be given longer rest periods, the FAA said in statement.
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NLRB Issues Proposed Union Election Changes
THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD will be approving a series of changes intended to streamline procedures for employee votes for union representation that will include: limitations on pre-election hearings; restrictions on post-hearing requests intended to facilitate prompt rulings;...
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Labor Department Approves Grant for Goodyear Union City workers
The U.S. Department of Labor has authorized a $3. 5 million National Emergency Grant to provide re-employment and support services to some 850 workers laid off when Goodyear closed its Union City, Tennessee, plant in July 2011.
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NLRB Upholds Car Dealership Worker's Firing Over Facebook Post
A Chicago-area judge made a ruling on two Facebook postings, but said one is a concerted activity and the other is not.
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Drug Arrests at Boeing Plant May Reveal Bigger Workplace Worry
Employers nationwide have learned that some workers' compensation claimants are becoming addicted to opioid painkillers prescribed for their work-related injuries; they are also discovering that employees using those prescription drugs may also drive workplace injuries.
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NLRB Issues Employee Notification Rule
Private-sector employers with workplaces under NLRB jurisdiction (all but the smallest companies) will be required to post the employee rights notice on bulletin boards in the same area that other notices are typically posted. The rollout has been postponed until Jan. 31, 2012.
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UAW Says GM Workers Ratify Labor Contract By 2-to-1 Margin
Under the pact, the automaker's 48,000 hourly workers have traded the promise of generous pay and benefits for job security and compensation gains that are more closely tied to the automaker's health, profitability and quality advances.
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UAW-GM Contract to Create or Retain 6,400 Jobs
General Motors has agreed to retain or create 6,400 jobs as part of $2.5 billion in planned product and plant investments under a new labor accord with the UAW.
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Accenture Settles Whistle-Blower Lawsuit for $63.7 Million
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in Little Rock, Arkansas, alleged that Accenture submitted, or caused to be submitted, false claims for payment under numerous contracts with federal agencies for information technology services.
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Allstate Agents Group OKs Link With AFL-CIO Union
That status wouldn’t give the group collective bargaining rights with Northbrook, Illinois-based Allstate Corp., which classifies its 12,000 agents as independent contractors.
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Pro-Union Employee Trying to Organize Target Store Is Fired
About seven weeks after failing to persuade her colleagues to join a union, a Target worker is terminated from her $8-an-hour job. The union will seek to reverse her dismissal.
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Lawmakers Wrangle Over Labors Definition of Fiduciary in Retirement Plans
Labor Department officials say that extending the standard would better protect workers and retirees. Opponents contend that it would raise liability costs and force broker-dealers to abandon the individual retirement account market, leaving smaller investors without investment advice.
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Firefighters Reverse Discrimination Lawsuit Finally Settled
Of the 17 plaintiffs in the case—Frank Ricci et al. v. John DeStefano et al.—16 were Caucasian and one was Hispanic.
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Union Workers Filing Federal Complaint Over Heat Lamps at Chicago Hotel
Chicago-based Hyatt Hotels Corp., which runs the hotel, has already apologized for the incident, saying the decision ‘was not in line with our values or with our corporate policies.’
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Allstate Agents Group Hopes to Affiliate With AFL-CIO
The National Association of Professional Allstate Agents Inc., formed more than two decades ago to protest Allstate’s move to shift more overhead costs to agents, will begin soon to solicit votes from its members on joining the Office and Professional Employees International Union as a guild.
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Heightened Union Activity Putting HR on Notice
The NLRB’s ‘EFCA light’ proposal to speed up the union election process and the Labor Department’s plan to clarify when employers must disclose pacts with labor relations consultants are signals to HR practitioners to review policies to ensure compliance with the National Labor Relations Act, to...
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A Little Labor Knowledge Could Go a Long Way for HR as Unions Push Into Private Sector
A more sophisticated approach to organizing and a more labor-friendly National Labor Relations Board make knowledge of current labor laws that deal with collective bargaining, the right to union representation during disciplinary situations and other employee rights increasingly important.
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Deadline Nears for Massive Strike in N.Y
A strike would idle more than 11,000 workers at private-sector projects costing nearly $10 billion, according to the Real Estate Board of New York.
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Employment Law Landscape Changes With Wal-Mart Ruling
The decision makes it more difficult for employees to file large class-action lawsuits unless they are able to clearly identify a common injury, such as a companywide discriminatory policy.
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Bloggers Hit Huffington Post With Labor Lawsuit
A class-action lawsuit alleges that as many as 9,000 unpaid bloggers for the Huffington Post were unjustly denied compensation.
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UAW Says Nearly All Laid-Off Detroit 3 Workers Are Back to Work
Since the last bargaining convention in 2007, GM’s UAW-represented work force has dropped from around 75,000 to 49,000 as plants have closed and workers departed either through attrition or retirement.
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Judge Temporarily Halts Wisconsin Public Employee Law
For employers without a collective bargaining agreement in force, employees would be required to pay half of the annual actuarially required retirement plan contributions, according to a written statement of the Wisconsin Employee Trust Funds Department.
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Using Worker Focus Groups Carries Risks for Employers
A labor lawyer warns that focus groups, even when set up by managers with the most noble motives, can easily backfire and expose a company to a litigation nightmare.
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Cemetery Workers Protest Plans to Outsource Jobs
After just one session at the bargaining table, workers allege management told them it planned to contract the work out to the Brickman Group, a landscaping giant that often uses foreign workers on temporary visas.
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Automaker Union Boss Mulls Tying Worker Pay to Company Results
UAW chief Bob King says the union’s role in the revival of the Detroit Three automakers since the 2009 crisis has shown that the union has become a partner rather than an adversary in the companies.
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New York Mayor Says Its too Hard to Fire, Punish City Workers
A mayoral task force calls the city’s civil service system ill-suited for a modern workforce and suggests changes to get rid of the bad and retain and promote the best. Unions howl.
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Report: Judge Sides with FedEx in Contractor Case
More than 50 lawsuits by FedEx drivers were consolidated into one lawsuit, according to reports. The judge previously ruled that FedEx drivers in Kansas were independent contractors.
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GM, Union Cut Historic Deal to Make Subcompact Car Profitably in U.S.
About 900 of the 1,200 to 1,500 laid-off workers at the Michigan plant will be able to return at full wages and benefits. The remaining laid-off workers will have the option of coming back with Tier 2 wages and full benefits or seeking a transfer to another GM plant.
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Bloomberg Freezes New York Hiring as Layoffs Become Likely
In a couple of years, one out of every eight dollars the city spends will go to providing health care benefits to retirees, says one leading administrator.
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A Bittersweet Win for Former N.Y. Bakery Workers
National Labor Relations Board affirms legal ruling that now-shuttered bakery’s owners didn’t play fair with union when seeking wage concessions that led to lengthy strike. Millions in back pay at stake.
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Continental Pilots Resist Plan to Outsource After United Merger
With antitrust approval of the merger out of the way, hammering out a joint contract with United and Continental pilots is the next critical step in the merger, set to close next month. Talks began August 9 on an accelerated schedule.
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GMs New CEO Meets With UAW Leaders, Says Lets Work Together
After the meeting at UAW headquarters in Detroit, Daniel Akerson said the leaders concluded that ‘while we will not always see eye to eye on everything, GM will succeed to the extent that management and labor work together.’
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Striking Coca-Cola Workers Benefits to Be Restored
Attorneys also filed a lawsuit against Coca-Cola asserting that the company violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act when it terminated health benefits for the 500 striking workers.
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Unions Win Round in 2003 California Grocery Strike
The grocers had formed a multiemployer bargaining unit to negotiate an expiring labor contract that sought to reduce health care coverage expenses, court records show. They also responded to the strikes by agreeing to share profits from sales among themselves.
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Hotel and Garment Unions Settle on Breakup
After the failed marriage of the two big unions, garment workers will keep longtime cash cow Amalgamated Bank, while hotel workers will walk away with a New York City office tower worth $70 million.
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Toyota Dealer Picketing Begins, UAW Leader Says
When union president Bob King revealed plans last month to picket Toyota dealerships, Cody Lusk, president of the American International Automobile Dealers Association, said ‘attacking small businesses’ is detrimental to helping the UAW increase its membership.
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Labor Departments About-Face on OT Muddies Quicken Lawsuits
The company faces four lawsuits on behalf of more than 1,000 former mortgage loan officers alleging the company misclassified them as exempt employees to avoid overtime pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
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Unions No Chicago-Like Wal-Mart Deal for New York
The nation’s top retailer is said to have agreed to near-prevailing-wage minimums for a new Chicago store, but labor leaders in Gotham scoff. ‘This is New York; this is not Chicago,’ a union official says.
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UAW Targets Toyota Dealers to Prod Automaker to Unionize
In his speech, United Auto Workers president Bob King says all members must support organizing efforts at the U.S. plants of Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Kia and Volkswagen.
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Former UAW Boss Says New Leader Will Grow Membership
Ron Gettelfinger, elected to the first of two terms as president eight years ago, has guided the United Auto Workers through perhaps the most tumultuous period in the union’s 75 years of existence.
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Labor Policy Set for Change as SEIU, NLRB Get New Blood
Although the union is in flux, many observers say that the organization will continue to wield significant influence in business and politics.
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Fork in Road for Truckers Fund; PBGC Splits Plan
The decision aims to extend solvency of the original plan and preserve full benefits for roughly 3,700 workers and retirees of nonbankrupt trucking firms.
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Paid Sick Days, Vacations Proposed for Maids, Nannies
The New York Senate is set to vote on a 'bill of rights' for domestic workers, including advance notice of termination. The state would be the first in the country to spell out such rights.
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PBGC Aids Two Multiemployer Plans
Both plans became insolvent in March. They remain under control of the plan administrator, which can reduce benefits to a guaranteed level.
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Bill Proposes Wage Floor on New York City Projects
New York borough politicians are pushing 'living wage' legislation to guarantee wages of at least $10 an hour plus benefits for jobs created at any city-subsidized projects.
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Much of New York Transit Agencys $560 Million Overtime Tab 'Cant Be Justified,' Exec Says
Transit executive suggests that ending millions of dollars in ‘unnecessary’ overtime spending would fill the latest budget hole. Union cooperation is needed, however, for such a move.
